The National Meteorological Administration (ANM) is set to install nine new autonomous automatic weather stations in Buzau County, thus increasing the number of meteorological measurement points to 14, with the aim of more rapidly identifying potentially dangerous weather phenomena.

According to ANM, the financing contract has been signed for the project 'Expansion of the national observation network within the National Integrated Meteorological System,' in partnership with the Special Telecommunications Service, together with the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. The project provides for the procurement of 300 automatic and autonomous surface weather stations, 100 agrometeorological stations and an integrated communications subsystem, as well as services for its interconnection with the National Integrated Meteorological System (SIMIN).
ANM's national meteorological monitoring network currently includes, in Buzau County, the weather stations in Buzau, Patarlagele, Ramnicu Sarat, Bisoca and Penteleu, which provide standardised meteorological observations used in operational diagnosis and weather forecasting activities.

'Within the feasibility study developed for the project ‘Expansion of the national observation network within SIMIN,' funded through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, nine locations for autonomous automatic weather stations to be installed across Buzau County were identified. The feasibility study includes, for Buzau County, nine sites located in: Zoresti, Gheraseni, Sahateni, Buzau Nord, Ratesti, Pogoanele, Padina, Vintila Voda and Rusetu. The stations will include sensors for the autonomous automatic measurement of meteorological parameters: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction at a height of 10 m and atmospheric precipitation. In addition to the above, for the Zoresti and Gheraseni locations, these will also include specific equipment for carrying out agrometeorological measurements: wind speed and direction at a height of 2 m, surface soil temperature, soil temperature at depth and soil moisture,' ANM told AGERPRES.

ANM specialists stress that by installing the stations in Buzau County, the surface meteorological observation network will reach approximately 14 meteorological measurement points, including both existing weather stations and the new automatic ones.

'From a meteorological perspective, increasing the density of the observation network plays an essential role in characterising the spatial variability of meteorological fields at local and mesoscale level. Parameters such as air temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure or relative humidity may show significant variation over relatively short distances, particularly in areas with varied terrain or in synoptic situations characterised by convective processes or interactions between different air masses. Increasing the number of observation points allows for a more accurate description of the spatial distribution of these meteorological parameters and leads to a reduction in the uncertainty associated with operational meteorological analyses. (...) At the same time, a denser observation network enables faster identification of potentially dangerous weather phenomena, such as local wind intensifications, episodes of heavy precipitation or rapid temperature changes. Therefore, expanding the network of weather stations contributes to increasing the accuracy of weather forecasts and improving the process of issuing meteorological information, alerts and warnings, including in situations where there is a risk of dangerous weather phenomena or conditions with the potential to generate flooding,' ANM says.

At present, the most important project directly targeting the development of meteorological infrastructure in Buzau County, carried out by ANM, is the enlargement of the national network of automatic weather stations. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Florin Zafiu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)